Parenting | Page 3 of 34

SparkGift, fractional share investing-great for kids, really

We were compensated for this post. All thoughts are our own. If you’ve ever attended one of our child’s birthday parties thank you. Thank you for your generosity, for the remote control toy that broke the next day, the Sesame Street toy that was just a bit too young and that thing that they said they’d play with, but never saw the light of day again. SparkGift is the gift that long-term planning parents need to get on board with for many reasons. Call it a legacy, retirement, lesson in investing or whatever you’d like, but SparkGift is a way to give what people what they need-and will one day, want-and need.

I never really learned about investing until I was in my mid 20’s. While I’m glad that I learned those lessons I missed out on 25+ years of massive compounded interest that would have multiplied like bunnies by the time I’m ready to retire.

SparkGift is a way for people to give stocks and index funds as gifts. Between those options you’ve got more than 6,000 choices to invest in the commonly mentioned stocks like Apple, Netflix or the index funds that group together areas of interest or size.

$SparkGift, fractional share investing-great for kids, really$

Continue reading SparkGift, fractional share investing-great for kids, really

Quality children’s shoes, unicorns and how to tell if you have some

We have two boys, aged 4 and 6. When Jake, our oldest turned 6 he needed a new pair of shoes. He’s active, but not one of those super active, plays three sports a day active. Picture the average kid, running around the yard, throwing the ball, riding the scooter and you get an idea as to how much wear he puts on his shoes. Any shoe will do and he’s keen into the light up shoes, so we went with Pup Patrol light ups that we bought at Target for $24. Within 15 days the shoes were beyond recognition, the bottom tread was entirely gone and there were multiple tears in the shoe itself. Here is what we learned about children’s shoes.

Continue reading Quality children’s shoes, unicorns and how to tell if you have some

The new film from Sisterhood of the Motherhood adds to the chorus of #EndmommyWars

I’m a Sisterhood of the Motherhood Partner and was compensated for this post. All thoughts are our own. There’s a heavyset parent at our school whose arms are covered in tattoos, the even have a couple on their neck. They drop them off in an older model car whose muffler obviously needs to be replaced. The car has a rainbow flag bumper sticker, the ‘namaste’ one, NRA decal and animal rescue too. It’s a train wreck of lifestyles and organizations that only coexists on bumpers and in the minds of those I don’t relate to. The child seems normal and happy; I see them sometimes when I eat lunch with my child. However, I never see their other parent and the tattoo laden driver is never in the school helping out. Plus they look just a little too young to have a child the same age as ours, but here’s what’s really surprising about this person.

Continue reading The new film from Sisterhood of the Motherhood adds to the chorus of #EndmommyWars

Zero tolerance and bullies are in league with the ignorant

One thing about the internet, it brings awareness to small incidents that become big things. Sometimes an unintended consequence is the root cause of the awareness and the rage that people feel when the small incident happens. Then the cycle repeats itself. When I went to sleep last night the story was relatively feel-good. A bully was picking on a blind student at Huntington Beach High School. Said bully got his comeuppance when an equally sized youth came up from behind him and smacked him to the ground.

I wake up and the school has suspended the youth who defended the blind student and kicked him off of the football team.

The police arrested the bully and released him back to his parents.

As an adult, there are so many things wrong with this story.

Continue reading Zero tolerance and bullies are in league with the ignorant

Doing what I can to #EndMommyWars from a dad’s perspective

We were compensated for this post, all thoughts are our own. Hey, I’m Trey and I’m a stay at home dad. As a dad I get off easy when it comes to the whole mommy wars issue. My wife and I don’t raise our children the way that you do. We certainly raise them the way that some of you, but not all of you. They go to sleep earlier than some of your kids, maybe watch more television that yours, possibly use the computer more and probably listen to more kindie. Having said that, so what? Similac is asking for a story from you about how you were judged, criticized or made to feel like a bad parent.

Continue reading Doing what I can to #EndMommyWars from a dad’s perspective

There are no robots in the bathroom

Our three-year old Charlie is in that precious stage of life where he’s learning new things and fresh vocabulary every day. His treatment with apraxia is going well and he’s making his points known regardless of the time of day, relevance or how valid they are. In his mind it’s appropriate to talk about next summer’s vacation, even though we’ve got a myriad of holidays, the entire school year and everyone’s birthdays, before that; but it’s OK for him to talk about them. He’s also into monsters and robots. Or he’s very scared of monsters of robots, depending upon when you ask him.

Continue reading There are no robots in the bathroom

Space Racers is equal part education and entertainment #Giveaway #SRPopup

Is Space Racers a television show that aims to educate or entertain? As parents we know that it’s trying to do both, but we can usually detect when it’s about to happen. The effective trick about Space Racers is that the education sneaks up on you. You’re enjoying the pleasant enough episode when all of a sudden someone is off to see what’s making the moon disappear. It’s just the shadow, we know that, but the way that it’s explained will keep kids entertained.

Continue reading Space Racers is equal part education and entertainment #Giveaway #SRPopup

Melanoma 2 years on: having blood drawn and cracking your head open

It was a little over two years ago that I was diagnosed with Melanoma and went in for treatment. Since then I’ve shunned the sun, have gotten used to clothing with a high SPF, love my hats and saw our Oncologist once a quarter. This past week marked the last time that I needed to see him once a quarter. Now the visits go down to twice a year and then once a year for a couple of years and then, hopefully never again.

Continue reading Melanoma 2 years on: having blood drawn and cracking your head open